


Plop

by dyne



Category: Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Genre: Gen, This turned from fluffy Vaan/Basch to the whole gang looking out for Vaan and Penelo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-03 14:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11534049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyne/pseuds/dyne
Summary: The group splits into two to take care of some hunts for some gil.





	1. The hunt for the Gil Snapper on the Giza Plains

Lightning crackles on the horizon as rain pours down, stinging the skin of three men. The trio trudged along carefully avoiding the large puddles of rainwater. Well, mostly careful.

"Ughh!!" 

Vaan slips in the dark brown mud, his body contorts as he lands with his weight balanced on his neck and his feet painfully dangling beside his ears. His plush bottom sticking straight up in the air. Pain radiates throughout skull. 

The sharpshooter quirks an arched brow at the clumsy teenager. 

The knight sighs and shakes his head. 

Balthier and Basch both silently lend a hand to Vaan to pull himself out of the puddle with. 

"Thanks guys..." Vaan speaks with a quiet voice, eyes cast down, and hand on his head. His vision blotchy from when the two strong men had ripped him from the water. 

"I didn't think I could get more wet.." Vaan pouts.

"We are almost to the Gil Snapper and the rain won't let up until we reach Rabanastre. The less time we stand around and complain the quicker we get back to a fresh, dry set of clothes." Reasons the knight.

"Very true" Balthier agrees while twirling his handgun and already begins to advance along the path. Basch follows as Vaan tries to balance himself and waits for his head to clear.

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

His head is pounding. He's so far behind the duo that he can barely see them. It's pouring even harder now and he can't think. 

Vaan wouldn't admit it, but he's scared. 

He's a street rat who's gotten into his fair share of fights accompanied by various scraps, bruises, cuts, and broken limbs. 

But now he can't just run to find Penelo and Migelo. He's in the wild and lost. 

He perseveres and continues forth knowing that Balthier and Basch will notice he's gone and search for him. (Hopefully) 

After walking for what seems like forever Vaan stumbles and falls forth onto his knees. His clammy hands clutch his head and squeeze.

A groan of pain emits slowly from his mouth. His grip slips and body gives out and he falls face first into the mud. His last thoughts were that he could have swore he heard frantic footsteps coming his way. 

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

Brown eyes open wearily and blink rapidly trying to make the blurriness go away. The first thing he sees is Basch staring him down from above. His head hurts but he isn't laying on the ground but instead his head is in Basch's lap. With a faint blush he tries to remove himself, but Basch puts his large hand on Vaan's chest and softly pushes him back down. He's surprisingly warm and content.

"You have a concussion," Basch explains with a soft voice, "We thought it would be best to not move you while you were asleep. I've always been told not to move someone who has a concussion..." Basch's voice trails off. 

Looking around from Basch's lap he notices they are seated under a dense set of trees. The leaves are easily larger than his torso... no wonder they both are practically dry...

For now he's content with watching the water droplets fall from the foliage. 

"Where's Balthier?" Vaan suddenly wonders out loud.

"He went after our Mark. Balthier is very strong; hes a sky pirate. He can handle himself." 

'I can't even handle not getting hurt by inanimate objects, and yet I want to be a sky pirate. Will I ever compare to Balthier and Fran's skill?' Vaan thinks, or, so he thought. He might have voiced that thought. His head is still cloudy with pain.

Basch looks at him with looks like pity. "Vaan you are still young, you and penelo are the youngest within our group yet you are able to keep up and even surpass us in certain ways. Your strength rivals mine while yours and Penelo's magic is easily the most potent between all of us. You have more talent than I did at your age, you are very strong, and with enough dedication can easily surpass us with due time."

Vaan feels his face heat up slightly as no adult has ever praised this street rat. 

A comfortable silence between the two shows that Vaan understands. 

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

Balthier returns successful with a sly grin on his face and guns warm and smoking from the barrel. 

"So you're finally awake Vaan? You gave us quite a scare. I wonder if the girls had our luck?" Balthier half jokes half serious. "We should start to head back now." 

Balthier helps Vaan stand and carefully leads him onto Basch's back. The older man holds the boy tight. Vaan lays his head onto Basch's shoulder snuggling into his hair and letting a sigh of relief overcome him. The three leave the dry haven and begin to venture back to the safety of Rabanastre. 


	2. The hunt for Orthros in the Garamsythe Waterways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelo, Ashe, and Fran take on their hunt for gil.

In Clan Centurio's base stood three women along with Montblanc the moogle. The moogle explained that these girls were the only ones who could take care of their 'little' problem. 

"So you're saying that this.. thing.. will only come out if women are there?" Ashe snarled with a twitch in her brow. 

"Yup! And I know you girls can handle it! You're the strongest around!" counters the moogle.

"Well let's get going, we haven't time to waste as we'll meet up with the others later." says the Viera before the princess can maul the moogle.

Penelo quietly stands behind the archer with aphresenion in her eyes.

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

The group exits the base and begins their descent into Lowtown to investigate. They gather information from the residents stating it was seen by women trying to lure them closer. One man had seen it and the creature ran off gurgling unintelligible words. 

And so they began to make their way towards the Garamsythe Waterways.

The whole way down Penelo couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. She looks over her shoulder and thought she saw something purple and slimey looking straight at her. She picked up the pace. "Uhhh guys... do you see that thing over there?" Lifting her arm to point at the direction, shaking nervously.

"AGHHH!" The moment the two turned a flash of purple flew towards Penelo and they were too stunned to act. Orthos, their bounty, grabbed Penelo with his gooey arms and began sticking himself to her. Penelo screams and struggles.

Fran takes arrows from her back and begins pulling the string on her bow. Ashe sheaths her sword and takes a defensive stance.

Hacking and slashing doesn't seem to do a damn thing. Neither does Fran's arrows. 

Penelo realizes this and casts Firaga while trapped within him.

Gooey sludge drips her head to her toes and the ends of her blonde hair are singed and brittle. Her skin and bodysuit has a dark and burnt tint to it. 

Her face beams with pride, her hands on her hips and she stands proud. 

Fran and Ashe both have a small smile on their faces, proud of her as well.

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

At the Mark front desk Penelo proudly hands over evidence to the teller showing that they had defeated the menace. She receives a large sum of Gil and newfound confidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one chapter left :-) im not gonna lie i didnt have a clue for what the girls should be hunting or any plot at all. i just thought i should try to tell their side aswell. also I never bothered to finish ffxii or do the marks so I know most of this might be inaccurate sorry


	3. The gang meets back up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basch brings Vaan to rest, Balthier and Fran go to the pub, Ashe shares some wisdom with Penelo and Penelo tells stories with Vaan.

Vaan lays cocooned in a bed, with his head wrapped in bandages, napping softly.

Basch sits adjacent to his bed with his arms crossed, head bowed down, and eyes closed as well.

Groaning, Vaan opens his eyes and glances around. 

"Basch...? Are you awake?"

Basch cracks his eyes open and grunts in response. 

"Thanks for taking care of me.."

"You're welcome," Basch rises from his chair and sits on the bed near Vaan's torso, "You know Vaan it's okay to ask for help when you need it. That's why we don't fight alone, we fight together. That's why a sky pirate has his crew, and the military has commanders and squads."

"I know.." 

"Good." He runs his fingers through the youngers hair and gives a chaste kiss on the top of his head. 

A faint blush forms on Vaan's cheeks and whips his head away in embarrassment. 

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

The two sky pirates sit idly at the pub quietly enjoying some drinks.

"So my dear, how did your hunt go?" 

"Great, Penelo is learning very well."

"Ha! And our little sky pirate gave himself a concussion!" 

"Hn. It's obvious Penelo is more becoming than Vaan."

"WHAT!?" growled Balthier.

The two locked eyes and butted heads over which of their 'children' were more skilled.

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

Ashe and Penelo idly walked down the bazaar streets, enjoying each other's silence.

"You know Ashe, it was really fun working with you and Fran today." Penelo said with a hint of enjoyment.

"I agree. It is quite fun." 

"W-We should hang out more! Like, when we all split up in town! It would be fun to do more stuff with you..." Penelo trails off.

"Yes I'd like that."

They both look at each other and share a warm smile. 

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

"And-And then it grabbed me!" Penelo tells of her heroic exploits of the day excitedly as Vaan sits on the edge of his seat waiting for more.

"Then what happened??!" 

"I casted Firaga on it and it melted away!"

"Ha! That's why your face is looking worse than usual!" Vaan sticks out his tongue. 

"Hey!" Penelo slaps his arm playfully and they burst into a fit of laughter. 

Basch and Ashe watch on from a distance. 

"It's nice to see children act like children in times like this"

"You're but a child too, your highness. You're only nineteen." counters Basch. 

Ashe hums in agreement and looks on with happiness in her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo hoo guys I did it .I've literally never written anything other than essays for school so I'm not very descriptive I kinda just wanna get the point across. but I'm working on it ( kinda ) !

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading again guys


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